MBA college in Hyderabad

When Kiran Aketi stepped onto the vibrant VJIM, Hyderabad campus for the first time, he had his set of expectations. He wanted to understand the real life business world better and gain in confidence to face it when time came. Two years of training with cutting edge pedagogy that included term papers to improve presentation skills and CVS training for better communication meant he left the campus with a bright and colorful future ahead of him. After all, he has bagged placement with a top brand like Asian Paints and forayed into the corporate world in style.

Corporate insights for budding managerKiran asserts that he really understood the importance of PGDM after he started the program. He learned about different aspects of business including consumer behavior, product life cycle, marketing strategies, pricing and more. “But above all, VJIM, Hyderabad gave me the belief and confidence in my abilities. That’s why when I didn’t get through initial placement interviews I believed that a big company was waiting for me, and that’s how I cracked Asian Paints interviews,” he claims.

Internship creates the perfect launchpadKiran got the opportunity to use his learning in the real corporate world during his internship with Triumphant Institute of Management Education. His project involved conducting competitor analysis, promotional activities and counseling of students. As he rubbed shoulders with professionals he got the taste of actual work environment. “The experience was important for my placement interview. But it will be absolutely vital in my job with Asian Paints as I will handle different responsibilities including working with dealers to achieve sales targets, solving their queries and more,” he adds thoughtfully.

In Kiran VJIM, Hyderabad has created another confident professional with bright future. At the same time, through the social outreach programs it has made him aware of his responsibilities towards the society. So when he talks about giving back to the community and those in need, you know that his transformation is not only complete but heartening too

Some of the brightest minds and leading personalities in the world of business have risen from failure. It’s your ability to take setbacks into your stride and turn the opportunities into success that proves your mettle as a professional. That’s exactly what Santosh, PGDM 2016 – 18 at VJIM, Hyderabad did after he failed to make it past the first round of placements for his ‘dream company’. “It was tough but I realized companies don’t reject candidates, they choose those who are ideal for their organization. After that I got shortlisted by every company,” he says wisely. And his reward was placement with a top brand like ITC Ltd. He tells us how it all happened.

Getting down to the basics

As an engineering graduate Santosh admits that he had no knowledge of management concepts when he enrolled with VJIM, Hyderabad. He chose to be a generalist with knowledge of core subjects rather than being a specialist in one. The nature of the program encouraged him in his pursuit. “Dynamic and updated course structure, affable faculty, mentoring system and career vision schooling systems for placement preparations are four factors that make VJIM stand out from other B Schools. These elements of learning were crucial for my growth too,” he adds.

Building on the strong foundation

According to Santosh, VJIM, Hyderabad offers students a number of platforms to showcase their talents and grow as professionals. He singles out the influence of AIMA games where he had to take solo responsibilities, manage teams and improvise to overcome worst case scenarios. “My SIP with Trip Thrill, a startup company in Tourism Industry was another building block in my journey. My project was to acquire homestays for the company in Coorg and market them on online platforms. I could put my learning into practice in a short span of time,” he says.

Santosh believes these experiences will help him in his professional life as he takes on the role of a Sales Manager with ITC. Besides the learning he takes memories of open air dinners in the hostel, canteen hangout sessions and placement parties. Given his own prestigious placement, you’d imagine that his party was one to remember.

With 33 teams contesting in the intense state-level competition, VJIM-ites had all 32, trail behind the back, with their acumen to making profit after tax. As task, all teams were assigned the same start-point

— business scenarios were same however eventually scenarios started changing from quarter to quarter. There were resources like machinery, raw materials, etc. that were provided to facilitate the teams but they came with conditional constraints and not for free. The GDP, CPI and expected demand was given and according to that teams had to forecast and produce the number of products which can be easily absorbed by the public. However, while production, the availability of plant and machinery, procurement of raw materials, available cash in hand all had to be taken care of. “We were tested on the pricing strategy, branding of the products, risk taking ability, critical and quick decision making,” says Tejas B. Sanghvi, PGDM, VJIM, Hyderabad.

VJIM students were contending with schools such as Symbiosis International University, Narsee Monjee Institution of Management, IBM, Badruka College of Commerce, Aurora PG College, Carlton Business School, Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), St. Martin’s Institute of Management, Siva Shivani Institute, Methodist College of Engineering and Management, Malla Reddy Institute of Management, KG Reddy College of Management, JNTU, OU, Ashoka Business School, Alluri Institute of Management, Maulana Azad National University, Vishwa Vishwani Institute, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Sarojini Naidu Vanitha Maha Vidyalaya, CVSR College, MLRIT, to name a few. With the rise of heat in the contest, with each stage, the contest was getting tooth and nail hard.

After each quarter, results were being declared as to which team is leading with their market share, PAT, inventory and new demand for next quarter based on which students had to forecast and predict the consumption and produce accordingly. Except the first quarter, VJIMites were leading all the quarters and eventually won the first prize- a stunning Rs. 50,000 cash prize.